Kittenna

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Kittenna drank Quangzhou Milk Oolong by DAVIDsTEA

Trying to drink myself into a tea stupor tonight, apparently. Going on about 8 cups now…

First cup (94C/2min) is VERY milky, but finishes quite nicely with a vegetal and then floral flavour. It’s very smooth and quite tasty. I find the milky flavour dissipates a bit the more I drink, so it must just be my mouth getting accustomed to it.

Second cup (95C/3min) is still quite smooth, less milky though, and the floral finish is a bit stronger. I’m getting just a touch of astringency/dry mouth/tannin feel mid-sip, but it doesn’t carry down the throat so I do find it enjoyable.

I have to admit, I did let these cool down a bit too far, but I do typically prefer my tea in the range of warm to lukewarm. They’re just… a bit closer to “cool” now. But still delicious, unlike some teas that taste odd at room temperature.

ETA: Two more steeps of this tonight. Third cup (96C/4min) smells just lightly floral and milky, but it’s not all that discernible anymore. Most of the milkiness is gone, and there’s just a hint of floral remaining, but I’m left with that absolutely delicious lingering taste in my mouth that just screams oolong to me. The same taste I’ll get in the second/third steeping of Banana Oolong. Honestly, the finish is better than the sip itself; I wish my mouth tasted this good all day! Yum. Nothing objectionable at all in this cup except that the sip initially tastes weak.

Fourth cup (kind of a shot in the dark, near-boiling water for 5min) is interesting and deviates quite a bit from the first three cups. There’s hardly any smell, but the flavour is now kind of toasty-buttery? It’s hard to describe. It’s different, but weak, although not objectionable. The oolong aftertaste is mostly gone as well. I probably wouldn’t bother going this far again, but it was interesting. No unpleasant bitterness coming out at all, so I’m going to blame user error on my boyfriend for the third-steep bitterness last time :D

2012-03-14 22:23:17 -0400

200 °F / 93 °C

2 min 0 sec

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.